Upholstery press



April 17, 1962 P. J. CAROLAN 3,029,550

UPHOLSTERY PRESS Filed April 50, 1959 20 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,029,550 UPHOLSTERY PRESS Philip J. Carolan, 39 St. Johns Ave., Central Islip, N.Y. Filed Apr. 30, 1959, Ser. No. 810,102 3 Claims. (Cl. 45-138) This invention relates to a press for use in applying fabrics to a seat or cushion.

The object of the invention is to provide a press which is adapted to be used for holding seat cover material in a position contiguous to the seat so that the material can be readily secured or fastened to the seat, as for example when a conventional seat or chair is being upholstered.

Another object of the invention is to provide an upholstery press which will serve to hold a sheet of fabric or other material contiguous to a cushion or seat so that the material can be accurately and readily fastened or tacked to the seat being worked on.

A further object of the invention is to provide an upholstery press which is extremely simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this application, and in which like numerals are used to designate like parts throughout the same.

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of the upholstery press of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the press.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on line 33 of FIGURE 2.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral indicates the upholstery press of the present invention which comprises a frame as indicated generally by the numeral 11, and the frame 11 embodies a plurality of spaced apart vertically disposed legs 12 which have flanges 13 on their lower ends.

The numeral 14 indicates beams or braces which are secured such as by welding to the upper portion of the frame 11, and the beams 14 serve to support a vertically disposed tube or member 15. The numeral 16 indicates an arm which extends downwardly from the tube 15, and a horizontally disposed base 17 is fastened to the lower end of the arm 16 as at 18.

As shown in the drawing, there is further provided a stationary cylinder or housing 19 which has a movable piston rod 20 extending upwardly therefrom, and the numeral 21 indicates a frame which is connected to and carried by the upper end of the rod 20. The numeral 22 indicates a flexible diaphragm which is fastened to the upper portion of the frame 21 and the diaphragm 22 is held in place by means of a bracket 23.

As shown in FIGURE 3, the numeral 24 indicates a conventional seat which is being covered with material such as the material or fabric 27, and the seat 24 is of the type which includes an arcuate or curved surface 25 as well as a back surface 26. The flexible diaphragm 22 is adapted to be arranged contiguous to the curved surface 25 of the seat 24, and a flat strip of plywood or other material 28 is arranged contiguous to the flat side 26 and positioned adjacent the base 17.

A means is provided for causing movement of the piston rod 20 so that the frame 21 can be moved, and this means comprises a hydraulic fluid reservoir tank 29 as well as a fluid pump 30, and the tank 29 and pump 30 are adapted to be connected to the cylinder 19 by suitable conduits.

The pump 30 may be operated by a handle member 31.

From the foregoing, it is apparent there has been provided an upholstery press, and in use the seat 24 which ice is to be covered with fabric, such as the fabric 27 is arranged or supported on the support member or frame section 21, and the seat 24 is arranged in such a position that its curved portion 25 is contiguous to the diaphragm 22. The seat 24 may include a flat backing member 28 which may be made of plywood or the like, and the backing member 28 is arranged so that it will engage the base 17. Then, with the parts arranged as shown in FIGURE 3, the pump 30 can be manually operated by means of the handle member 31 and that will cause hydraulic fluid to be pumped from the tank 29 to the cylinder 19 so that the piston rod 20 will move upwardly. As the piston rod 20 moves upwardly, it moves the support member 21 upwardly so as to carry the seat 24 upwardly, until the base 17 is engaged, as shown in FIGURE 3. When suflicient pressure is exerted on the seat 24 by the upward movement of the rod 20, further pumping by the handle member 21 is stopped, and a suitable valve member can be provided for controlling the hydraulic fluid so as to maintain the piston rod in its elevated or raised position. Then, with pressure exerted on the seat 24 between the base 17 and the diaphragm 22, the fabric 27 will be stretched taut so that securing elements such as tacks '32 can be driven through the fabric 27 and into engagement with the back member 28 in order to secure or fasten the fabric 27 in place over the seat 24. After the fabric 27 has been fastened in place by the securing element 32, pressure of the hydraulic fluid in the cylinder 19 should be released so that the rod 20 will come downwardly and the support member 21 will move downwardly therewith so that the seat 24 can be removed from the press and positioned in its proper location, as for example, in an automobile, article of furniture or the like. Thus, the press can be used over and over again for applying seat cover material or fabric to various types of cushions, seats, or the like.

The parts may be made of any suitable material and in different shapes and sizes. a

The rubber diaphragm 22 is stretched across the top of the support member 21 and is held in place by the metal stripping or bracket 23.

An important aspect or object of the present invention is to provide a device which is adapted to compress a seat, such as a chair seat and wherein the seat is compressed with the fabric such as the fabric 27 on top of the rubber diaphragm 22 and under the seat. The purpose of the present invention is to secure the fabric around the frame of the seat and then the fabric is tacked or stapled to the seat and then the pressure is released. The base 17 may be swively connected to the arms 16 and 18. The support member 21 can be rotated toward the operator to facilitate working on the seat. Suitable braces and supporting legs can be used and the diaphragm 22 can be made of a suitable flexible material such as rubber.

The upholstery press of the present invention can be used to handle seats such as those used in theaters or institutions as well as other types of equipment.

Minor changes in shape, size and rearrangement of details coming within the field of invention claimed may be resorted to in actual practice, if desired.

I claim:

1. In an upholstery press, a frame including spaced vertically disposed apart legs, beams extending from the upper portion of said legs, a vertically disposed tube depending from said beams, an arm depending from said tube, a horizontally disposed base connected to the lower end of said arm, a stationary cylinder arranged adjacent said frame, a movable rod extending upwardly from said cylinder, means for moving said rod, a support memher connected to the upper end of said rod, a yieldable diaphragm canied by said support member and said diaphragm adapted to have a covering fabric material extended thereover, and a seat to be covered interposed between said base and diaphragm, said seat having a flat 5 portion contiguous to said base, and said seat also having a curved portion contiguous to said diaphragm.

2. The structure as defined in claim 1 wherein the means for moving said rod embodying a hydraulic fluid reservoir tank, and a pump connected to the cylinder and 10 tank.

3. The structure as defined in claim 2 wherein said pump is manually operable.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Rothberg May 17, 1910 Peck May 25, 1915 Bacon Nov. 19, 1915 Bancroft July 3, 1923 Vanderwoort Apr. 14, 1931 

